This is so true. We all have our favourite skaters because their performances / styles / whatever somehow resonate with us personally. It is hard to find a skater universally resonates with just about every fan, and I am not surprised if a performance which is so dear to me means nothing to someone else. It's all personal; it is perhaps more to do with my personal history, experiences, cultural background, nurtured tastes, etc, than the skaters themselves.

As there have been a lot of talk about Evan in this thread, I thought I'd contribute a small piece of information - I think Daisuke Takahashi is one of the biggest fans of Evan amongst Japanese skaters, at least. He often names Evan as one of his arch-rivals whose style he admires. He lists Evan as his favourite skater who has a good balance between technical proficiency and an ability to perform and project, along with Stephane, Jeff Buttle, Tomas Verner and Michal Brezina. (Hence, I believe, his comment at the last Worlds - 'I miss Stephane and Evan.') I wonder if he syncs with something Evan's got that some posters here cannot?

Besides being a great skater Dai also seems to be a genuinely nice person.

Dai surely respects Evan's hard work and discipline. As a skater Dai knows that at Evan's height many things in skating were harder for him.

Good luck to Dai at Worlds and thanks for all of the the interesting information you have been posting about Japan and the Japanese skaters.

I have a question maybe you can answer.
I notice that as Kanako is announced and skates out to center ice she always places her right arm/hand over her heart.

I have seen Mirai do this too but only once in a while. Do you know if this has any special significance?

Besides being a great skater Dai also seems to be a genuinely nice person.

You shouldn't read only what I write about Daisuke, as I am a self-proclaimed über-fan of him and thus seriously biased!
In his own words, he's lazy, self-centred, negative, moody, short-tempered, etc, allegedly...

Good luck to Dai at Worlds and thanks for all of the the interesting information you have been posting about Japan and the Japanese skaters.

Nothing but my pleasure. I am glad you find them interesting.

I have a question maybe you can answer.
I notice that as Kanako is announced and skates out to center ice she always places her right arm/hand over her heart.

I have seen Mirai do this too but only once in a while. Do you know if this has any special significance?

I am not sure if it's a cultural thing but that's what I also do when I try to calm my nerve, let's say before making a speech or something. I thought it might be universal, no?

Why would Evan change? He won '09 Worlds, then the GPF and then the Olympic Gold Medal.
Anyone can get lucky once, but when you win three times in a row you are not lucky but the acknowledged King of your sport.

Evan is the current King of Men's figure skating. The CoP coronated King Evan and he will hold that title until 2014.

Enjoy, enjoy.

I thought Evan was coronated OGM and he will hold the title forever and ever, not only until 2014.

Joe, your way would make this sport even harder to be a spectator sport. I'd think in the way of your idea, the skaters who are good artistically would lose some interests on what they are doing too. People like Shawn White type (what was that boy's name? too lazy to check) would be more and more. Jeremy Abbotts would be less and less. It might be worse in Ladies. I'd think without music, it'd be useless to have pretty costumes. A sport? yes. But what a boring skating will that be?

Bluebonnet, do you realize the huge amount of posts that cover the Tech on this Board? There is hardly any gushing like there used to be (praise to be). The fans who love the artistic side of figure skating will still be able to appreciate that portion in the LP. It will be a formidable segment of the championship. Long before you were born there was figure skating without music and without sequins. This would be a test of Elements and show more sport for the lovers of sport as it was for the original competitor to show his skill in basic figure eights,

You are correct in saying it would be boring for those who only want to see movement to music, but there are a few others who are impressed with the Elements, and that would be fair for the skaters who work hard on the elements all years. Some Ladies, btw, are quite adept with the elements. They are sportspeople.

I think, you would be more correct to mention the possible loss of revenue due to changing the present system, which could happen with the lovers of ballet arms.

I could do without the present SP because I am at a loss as to what it brings to the sport. I am aware that it is a mini LP and that's enough for some people to get excited about emotional value it may bring. Operative word: "may".